Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Cuckoo Song (Early English Lyric - 1)

["Sumer is icumen in" (also called "The Cuckoo Song" or "Sumer Canon" or "thr Reading Rota") - Anonymous (speculated to be W. de Wycombe) - early English ms (copied c.1262) - British Library, London, MS Harley 978]AG: So, let's get on to the 13th Century. Now let's get back to some pretty poetry, after all that. Do you know The Cuckoo's Song ? - that's page three [of the Norton Anthology], the very beginning. Does anybody know this stuff? Has anybody read these before? - Cuckoo? - Yeah - Where?

Student: At school.AG: Which school?Student : University of Western OntarioAG: Pardon me?Student : University of Western OntarioAG: What town is that?Student: It's the other side of London, London, OntarioAG: Yeah. Who were your teachers?Student: Er… I don't remember..AG: Did they teach you how to pronounce it?Student: They did, but I was never very good at it.AG: Anybody want to try that? The first two lines? Has anybody got any idea how you do it? The first two lines of that Cuckoo Song - to get it rythmical. It's a song, remember, so how would you do it..as if you were rhymicizing it..? Anybody want to make a.. just beginning, at the beginning with our own senses.Student (1): "Sing cuccu, nu. Sing cuccu,/Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu, nu"AG: Well, anybody else got an idea? - In a way.. That was one wayStudent (2): "Sing cuccu, nu. Sing cuccu./Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu, nu"AG: Yeah, that's pretty good.. I.. The way I heard it (I don't think I ever heard it but I may have heard it once) - "Sing cuccu, nu/ Sing cuccu/Sing cuccu nu.." - no, "Sing cuccu, nu/ Sing cuccu./Sing cuccu./ 'Sing cuccu, nu" - "Sing cucco, nu/Sing cuccu/Sing cuccu. /'Sing cuccu, nu"- Something like. It's possible. It's just symmetrical like that. Student: (It's) like a football cheer!AG: Yeah, well, where do you think those football cheers come from?AG: "Svmer is i-cumin in/Lhude sing, cuccu!/Groweth sed and bloweth med/And springeth the wude nu./Sing cuccu!/ Awe bleteth after lomb/ Lhouh after calve cu /Bulluc sterteth/bucke verteth - /Murie sing, cuccu!/ Cuccu, cuccu,/ Wel singes thu, cuccu/ Ne swik thu naver nu/ Sing, cuccu, nu. / Sing, cuccu./ Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu, nu."- I can't... I dunno.. the.. you've got a translation there - "Groweth seed and bloweth meadow/ Springeth the woods new green again (the woods green new)/ the ewe bleats after the lamb/ lowing after calf cu (lowing after the calf, the cow - lowing after calf cow - lowing after calf cu) - "Bulluc sterteth/bucke verteth" - ("the bullock starts, the buck farts" - "verteth" - "breaking wind" - that's what it is - "bullock starts, buck farts") - Merry, merry sing cuckoo/ merry sing cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo/ Well sing thou cuckoo - "Ne swik thu naver nu" - and then I haven't been able to pronounce it..I haven't been able to pronounce it organically (probably did about five times (in my life) - (it's) probably impossible! - What else is there that's interesting? "Bishop, Lawless" on (page) six I like to be continued[Audio for the above can be heardhere, starting at approximately xx minutes in and concluding at approximately fourteen-and-a-half minutes in]